‘Pinot Noir Heaven’ in St. Helena

The St. Helena Wine Center is offering a chance to sample rare pinot noirs, including Kosta Browne, Donum, GoldenEye, Pisoni, Ryan, Hirsch, Beaux Freres and more Friday and Saturday. The event, “Pinot Noir Heaven” will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. Friday, Nov. 21 and from 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 22. Cost is $25 per person. To buy tickets, or more information, call 963-1313, e-mail martin@shwc.com or visit www.shwc.com.

Kirkland Ranch Winery on the auction block

Kirkland Ranch Winery on Jamieson Canyon Road, south of Napa, will be sold at a sealed bid auction. The minimum opening bid is $22 million and is due at noon Tuesday, Dec. 2. The bid is less than half of the previous value, according to a press release announcing the auction.

The auction will be handled by International Wine Group, in conjunction with Braun Auctioneers and The Beverly Group, Inc.

Kirkland Ranch Winery has had a troubled existence over the past several years. 360 Global, which had purchased Viansa Winery & Marketplace in Sonoma County, had acquired a half interest in the winery. But in 2006, 360 Global encountered financial difficulties, losing more than $24 million in the first six months of 2006, while registering revenues of only $8 million for the same period.

‘Tastes of the Century’ for sale

John Tudal of Tudal Winery & Cerruti Cellars will be releasing a limited number of gift boxes of what he’s calling “Tastes of the Century” a three-bottle vertical of its 1999, 2000 and 2001 vintages in a 750ml format. For more information on buying one of the 125 gift boxes, visit Tudal Winery’s Web site, www.tudalwinery.com.

Prohibition celebration planned

A number of St. Helena groups will be celebrating the 75th anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition early next month.

The first event will be a talk about Prohibition’s repeal at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 3 at the St. Helena Public Library, 1492 Library Lane. Seating is limited and reservations are requested. They may be made by calling 967-5502 or sending an e-mail to shstory@shpl.org.

Other events will be held from Friday, Dec. 5 to Sunday, Dec. 7 at various wineries and downtown businesses. The celebration is sponsored by the St. Helena Public Library, St. Helena Historical Society, Appellation St. Helena, the St. Helena Chamber of Commerce, Napa Valley Vintners and Napa Valley Wine Library.

Mustards offers wine, food pairings

Cindy Pawlcyn and her staff at Mustards Grill are working to make Thursdays “the most coveted dining day of the week.” Thursday, Nov. 20 is the beginning of “The Great Mustard’s Pour-Off Pair Off” will pair glasses of rarely-available wines with the great food that’s always available at Mustards.

Tonight, for example, a wood fire grilled pork loin will be paired with glasses of “Pomis” Maremma, a 2006 wine from Tuscany. Other wines available tonight are a 2006 Trimbach Gewurztraminer, paired with a roasted duck breast and a 2000 Hanna Petite Verdot, paired with a blue cheese and smoked bacon quiche.

The Thursday dinners, except for Thanksgiving and Christmas, continue through April. For reservations at the Yountville restaurant, call 944-2424 or visit www.mustardsgrill.com.

Maclean helps begin JAQK Cellars

Napa’s Craig Maclean is co-founder and winemaker of the new San Francisco-based JAQK Cellars, which is releasing eight limited-production wines, including three made from grapes grown in the Napa Valley.

The local wines are a 2006 High Roller, a cabernet sauvignon; a 2006 Black Clover, a merlot; and a 2006 shiraz called “The Soldiers of Fortune.” The company and wines are inspired by the Jack, Ace, Queen and King in a deck of cards.

Maclean crafted his first wine for Cain Vineyards and Winery and was winemaker for Spring Mountain Vineyard. His reserve cabernet sauvignon from 1997 earned a ranking of number 17 in the Wine Spectator’s Top 100 wines in 2001.

Others involved in the venture are Joel Templin and Katie Jain, founders and Bernard La Borie, president of the company.

The wines are priced from $23 to $70 and are available through the company’s Web site, www.jaqkcellars.com.

Ranndy Pina begins history blog

Along with releasing single-vineyard cabernet sauvignons, one of the four Pina brothers, Ranndy, began a blog this fall - a blog about growing up in the Napa Valley, the wine industry in general and the Piña family in particular.” It’s on the Web at http://www.pinanapavalley.blogspot.com/.

Ranndy’s first post was Oct. 20, and his topics have included “Rutherford Firehouse Label/Another Tow Truck,” “Our Dad Was A Witch,” “Old Wine press - P & P Cellars,” “World War II - 4 Star Family,” “The Evolution of the Napa Valley Harvest” and “Grape Contracts Past & Present.”

He said, “I am Ranndy, the third of the four Piña brothers. I intend to tell a few stories, share some family and Napa Valley history and maybe even educate a bit. I list educate last, because I’m not the most qualified of teachers. I do know some stuff, but more importantly, I work daily with people that know lots of stuff - Incredible amounts of stuff about vineyards, wine, winemaking and Napa Valley History. My goal is to work with my “experts” to provide you with entertaining reading; if you learn something, so much the better. If you have a question about that crud in the bottom of your wine glass, or under what conditions we would use a GDC (Geneva Double Curtain) trellis system, please ask. I’ll do my best to get you answers in plain English.”

Ranndy, along with brothers John, Larry and Davie, run their small family winery in Rutherford. The winery is located at 8060 Silverado Trail.

The Piñas have assembled a family of stellar single-vineyard cabernet sauvignons from different sub-appellations within the Napa Valley; all of these wines are made in extremely small quantities, in some cases less than a hundred cases each. Current releases are the 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley (D’Adamo Vineyard) ($72) and 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain (Buckeye Vineyard) ($78). The winery’s other 2005 vintage releases, 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Yountville (Wolff Vineyard) ($72) and 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Rutherford (Firehouse Vineyard) ($78), are sold out.

Their winemaker is Anna Monticelli. For information call 738-9328 or visit  www.PinaNapaValley.com.

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